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User blog:Bane7670/Rank Insignia Plaque Guide
In my research of various Star Wars reference works, I've taken an interest in those little colored chest plates seen in the Star Wars films and other media, particularly in the context of the Galactic Empire. Many a Wookieepedian have tried to find some level of consistency between ranks and the various insignia plaques that appear with them. There's been a bit of inconsistency due to a variety of plaques not always matching their preestablished ranks. Here I will make an officially Unofficial Guide to the Rank Insignia Plaques and attempt to make some degree of sense out of all these shiny badges, combining material from Canon, Legends, and Fanon material. (Credit to KnightReturns422 for putting these tables together.) Galactic Republic The Republic military arose with the creation of the Grand Army of the Republic at the outbreak of the Clone Wars, adopting much of the military structure from the original Judicial Forces as well as the Kaminoans' own initiatives. Command structures were revitalized and rank insignias resumed production to accommodate officers of the new Grand Army. However, very few clone officers utilized them as the Kaminoans already provided the clones with HUD glyphs and colored armor flashes to denote different ranks and there were very few non-clone officers below the rank of colonel at the time. Attention to non-clone officers was centered largely in the navy which, up until that point, had been the Republic's only form of military service. As the war progressed, clone troopers phased out of their original armor flashes in favor of unit-based markings. Additionally―on the initiative of the Jedi―the clones eventually received simple navy uniforms for use as formal attire while on leave. These uniforms bore rank plaques appropriate to the soldier's rank. Army Clones' insignia plaques were sometimes adjusted to match roles rather than ranks on certain occasions, such as out-of-armor duty rotations in the navy. Navy Galactic Empire Upon the Republic's transformation into the Galactic Empire, its military was completely reformed from a Grand Army of clone soldiers into a force of loyal Imperial Stormtroopers. The transition included a shift in the existing system of rank plaques to accommodate the wider scope of Imperial might. High command ranks, such as those on Coruscant and in sector fleets, continued to use the Republic's linear, double-rowed design of red tiles over blue for a variety of positions. For example, four red squares over four blue squares could denote either a Commodore in the Navy or a Colonel in the Army. However, military minds eventually incorporated sector-specific design schema so that insignias would designate not only rank but region of service as well. Below is the basic template of single-rowed Imperial rank plaques used across all branches. Following the Battle of Yavin, rapid promotions to compensate for the loss of personnel aboard the Death Star overruled most sector-specific insignias. At this time, the design of two rows of red over blue became universal in both Army and Navy forces. This design would remain in use for the majority of the Galactic Civil War. Category:Blog posts